Summer Film Series to Catch in NYC
Vintage porn classics to live music scores, both in and out of the theaters
Summer may be synonymous with Hollywood blockbusters, but if you’re in the mood for something elsein a screen size larger than your 15″ laptopNYC thankfully has a deluge of options, like Rooftop Cinema Club’s movies with a sunset view. Whether you’re itching for the deliciously chilly, dark theater or the fresh air out on the grass, below are special seasonal and thoughtfully curated film programs that take place in either.
Nitehawk Naughties
For its third year, the Williamsburg dinner-drinks-and-a-movie theater continues its Nighthawk Naughties program: a dirty film series “reclaiming” porn films from past decades. “To put 1970s porn into the same socio-political and corporeal context as the horror genre” is just one of the many reasons behind the series, explains senior film programmer Caryn Coleman in her enlightening essay. This summer is themed “Ooh La La” as they focus on the inventors of sexy, the French (last year’s theme was Scandinavian erotica). Catch Marlon Brando in “Last Tango in Paris” (1972), a vampire cult in “Fascination” (1979), and “The Dreamers’s” menage trois (2003) for just $12. Ticket price includes surprise goodies from their partner Babeland.
Summer in the City at Metrograph
At the freshly opened two-screen theater Metrograph in the Lower East Side, there’s an ambitious, ongoing A-Z program, an “alphabetically ordered series that offers films we consider must-sees” limiting one film per director (right now they’re on the J, K, Ls). We’re even more interested in their succinct Summer in the City series during the first week of July: that time of the summer where those who can’t handle the heat head out of town. Metrograph is screening the classics featuring that NYC heat wave: “Rear Window,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and more. $15
Music & Movies at Prospect Park
As a part of BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, there will be three free Music + Movies events at Prospect Park Bandshell, pairing NYCs largest outdoor screen with live performances. French animation “Triplets of Belleville” will play on none other than Bastille Day. 1998 German cult classic “Run Lola Run” gets a groovy live score from improvisational London trio The Bays on 4 August. And see David Bowie as the Goblin King in Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth,” featuring the legend’s own music. The opener will be Donny McCaslin Group, the same jazz band that backed Bowie on his final album Blackstar.
Films on the Green 2016
Outdoor French film festival Films on the Green is free (thanks to the French Embassy) and hosted all over NYC’s green spaces including Central Park, Washington Square Park, Transmitter Park and even Columbia University. Upcoming screenings include French New Wave founder Franois Truffaut’s first feature “Les 400 Coups” (1959), “The Fifth Element” director Luc Besson’s “Subway” (1985), and “Girlhood” (2014) where 16-year-old African-French teenager Marieme leaves her family to join a girl gang. See the full schedule, running now through 8 September, online.
Images courtesy of respective organizations and theaters
